Materialized Apparitions: If Not Beings from Another Life, What Are They
Edward Brackett
Materialized Apparitions: If Not Beings from Another Life, What Are They
To abandon these spiritual phenomena to credulity, is to commit a treason against human reason. Nevertheless, we see them always rejected and always reappearing. They date not their advent from yesterday.
В В В В Victor Hugo.
PREFACE
Written at intervals from the pressure of business, and at times that should have been devoted to recreation, these pages make no claim to artistic arrangement or literary merit. If they enable any one to arrive at a clearer and better appreciation of the wonderful phenomena of which they treat, they will have accomplished all that was intended.
Winchester, Mass.
INTRODUCTION
In 1840 I became acquainted with Dr. Colyer, then lecturing on Mesmerism, at Peel's Museum, New York, and fully believed, at that time, that he was a humbug, and Mesmerism a fraud. Soon after this, while visiting some friends, with Mr. Pendleton, formerly from Boston, this subject was pretty thoroughly discussed, – Mr. Pendleton insisting that there was truth in it, and that I was not treating it fairly; and he proposed, as a matter of amusement, that I should try the experiment on some one of the party present. Willing to turn the discussion into a less serious form, I consented to take the part assigned me; and soon found, to my astonishment, that I had before me a most excellent clairvoyant subject. What had been started as amusement became a very interesting entertainment, resulting in the meeting of the parties once a week for the purpose of studying Mesmerism.
In the following spring I removed to Boston, where in my leisure hours I continued my investigations, part of the time with Dr. William F. Channing, the inventor of the Fire Alarm, and at the time a student with Dr. Jackson. I was indebted to him for many interesting suggestions, and especially for the use of a very delicate galvanometer, for the purpose of detecting, if possible, any magnetic or electric currents passing between the magnetizer and his subject. No such currents were discovered, and when we found that our subject could be controlled and thrown into a trance when more than a mile away, by the action of the will alone, the idea of testing currents was abandoned. All that has since been made public under the names of Mind-Reading and Telepathy, and much more, was familiar to us.
When trance-mediumship became known, believing that it was only a form of Mesmerism, I gave considerable attention to it. There were few mediums of note that I did not have more or less sittings with, but the most satisfactory communications I received came through a member of my own family. While the evidence was such as would have convinced most persons that these messages came from the other side of life, I was by no means sure of it.
In this state of mind, in consequence of some statements made to me by Mr. Thomas Appleton, of what he had seen in Europe, I decided to investigate what is known as "Materialization," that is, the alleged production of visible and tangible apparitions out of seeming nothingness. I felt, whether right or wrong, that my experience in Mesmerism, and the long training of my perceptive faculties as a sculptor, which enabled me to detect the slightest differences between objects, was as good a preparation as one could have for studying this class of phenomena. I had no sectarian prejudices to overcome, and no lack of courage in stating my convictions, no matter which way the evidence might lead. That I prejudged the case in the beginning, I freely admit, and, like thousands of others, formed an opinion without giving to it that attention which is necessary in dealing fairly with any subject.
I have a thorough abhorrence of fraud, whether in the sГ©ance-room or in the pulpit, regarding any one who would trifle with the most sacred feelings of our nature as deserving the severest punishment.
In briefly detailing some of the facts that have come under my own observation,